There’s a great event coming up that you’ll want to put on your calendar.

An Evening with the Spurs: Coyote Tales & Court Stories with Sean Elliott, Bill Schoening & Rob Wicall.

Spurs fans know Sean Elliott as the “Memorial Day Miracle” and as the longtime color commentator for Spurs broadcasts. Elliot was drafted third overall in 1989. Paired with the David Robinson, the Silver & Black began an upswing that continued through the drafting of Tim Duncan and culminating in the 1999 NBA championship.

Soon after the championship, Elliott announced that he had a kidney disease known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. He received a kidney from his brother, underwent a transplant, and became the first player in history to return after the surgery just eight months later.

Bill Schoening served as the voice of the Spurs for twenty-four seasons, retiring last summer. In August 2022, he was announced as an inductee into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. Schoening is a four-time winner of the Associated Press “Top Texas Play-by-Play Award,” and also won the 2014 Texas Sportscaster of the Year Award from the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

Rob Wicall spent 20 years as the Spurs Coyote. He served as the Spurs’ backup Coyote before assuming the role full time in 2004. In 2005, Gameops.com named him Best Mascot of the Year. In 2014, the Coyote was named NBA Mascot of the Year. In 2016, he retired due to an arthritic condition, ankylosing spondylitis (AS).

The combined legacy of this trio will be on full display at the Brauntex Theater in New Braunfels on Thursday, May 28th as they share their personal Spurs stories.

“Come to the Brauntex Theatre for an unforgettable night of behind-the-scenes stories, laughter, and legacy. Coyote Tales & Court Stories brings together former Spurs player Sean Elliott, Bill Schoening, the voice who called the action, and the man inside the iconic Coyote mascot, Rob Wicall. These three will be sharing the stage in an intimate setting, answering your burning questions LIVE!”

Tickets and VIP Meet and Greet packages are available HERE.

I spoke with Bill at a recent Spurs home game and I’ve got to say, he has so many wonderful stories in his near quarter-century with the Spurs. He’s called over 2000 games and has been there for every twist and turn. If the few minutes we spent are a precursor to what the evening has in store, it will be a night you won’t want to miss.

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In this crazy season, Game 5 is a must-win for the Lakers. 

Why, you might be asking. 

They have a 3-1 series lead over the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs. They’re going to have multiple chances to clinch. They’re firmly in control. 

Think again. 

Nothing has gone as expected for the Lakers this season. Nothing has made sense. Nothing is predictable. 

For a long time, the Lakers looked like they were a play-in team. Then they somehow figured things out and went on a stunning 16-2 run this spring. Suddenly they were title contenders.

Shocker. 

Just when we digested that wild turn of events, they lost Luka Doncic (hamstring) and Austin Reaves (oblique) to injuries with five games remaining in the regular season.

Another shocker. 

That left our heads reeling. They had no chance in the postseason without their top-two scorers. Scribes were writing the Lakers’ obituaries before they even played Game 1. 

But wait, ready for another plot twist? 

About an hour before the series opener, we found out that Kevin Durant — who only missed four regular-season games — would miss Game 1 because of a knee injury he sustained in practice. He’d go on to also miss Games 3 and 4 due to a left ankle sprain. 

Yet another shocker. 

All of a sudden, the hapless Lakers featuring a 41-year-old LeBron James and a bunch of role players had a 3-0 series lead over the Rockets before losing Game 4 on Sunday, 115-96. 

Shocker.

So, here’s the deal right now. No team has ever recovered from a 3-0 series deficit in NBA history. Teams with that advantage are 159-0. 

But in this topsy-turvy, unpredictable season, wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake if the Lakers once again made our jaws drop and lost the series?

It would be the twist no one saw coming at the end of the movie. It would be the team’s worst nightmare. 

It would be the ultimate shocker. 

So, the Lakers need to slam the door on this series before the impossible can happen again. 

The Lakers fell apart in Game 4. They had 24 turnovers which led to 30 points for the Rockets. They shot 22.7% from beyond the arc. 

James, who has played superstar-caliber basketball this series, had one of his worst playoff performances in his 23-season career, finishing with just 10 points on 2-for-9 shooting and eight turnovers. 

Marcus Smart went from being a Rottweiler in Games 2 and 3 to devolving into a Maltese in Game 4, finishing with the worst plus-minus (-20) of anyone on the court. 

Luke Kennard went from having a coming-out party this postseason as a playmaking, sharpshooting star to having a complete disappearing act on Sunday, finishing with just seven points and two assists. 

The Rockets smell blood. 

The Lakers are tired. They’re weakened. There’s a dent in their armor.

And if the series is extended beyond Wednesday’s contest, games would be played every other day.

That’s a dangerous prospect for the Lakers’ exhausted legs, especially considering James has already carried this depleted roster on his arthritic-prone body more successfully than anyone anticipated. There are rumblings that Reaves could return for Game 5, but the Lakers can’t count on that.

Now is the time for them to be laser-focused.

They can’t let this young Rockets team believe they have a chance in this series. They can’t let the team’s shooters find their stroke. They can’t let Durant return and take over. 

They can’t crack the door open for what could potentially be the biggest upset in NBA playoff history.

In this wild season where the rug seems to constantly be ripped from under them, the Lakers need to treat Game 5 as though it were an elimination game. 

Or else they could set themselves up for their greatest shock yet.

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Attention to detail is one of Boston’s most overlooked strengths.

There are plenty to choose from — volume three-point shooting, defensive connectivity, late-game composure. But it’s the precision and thoroughness of the minutiae that often sets them apart.

Their preparation allows them to identify pressure points quickly, and then push on them until something breaks.

Their latest win over the Sixers was a clear example.

The Boston Celtics are no stranger to Joel Embiid. He’s been a recurring playoff antagonist for roughly a decade. Despite his individual dominance, Embiid has been open about how lopsided this non-rivalry has been.

Historically, Boston has found ways to exploit the cracks in his Sixers teams. In Game 4 with Embiid returning to the floor, they made him the focal point of their offensive attack.

On the very first possession, Boston brings Embiid directly into the action.

With Queta setting a high screen for Tatum, they force Embiid out beyond the three-point line, immediately testing his agility. Tatum causes confusion with his handle, and with both defenders drawn to him, he feeds Queta for a tone-setting slam.

Boston wants to make Embiid defend in space as much as possible. It pulls a dominant rim protector out of the paint and eliminates any chance for him to rest while trying to find an offensive rhythm.

A few possessions later, they put the pressure on him again.

Two minutes into his return from appendicitis, Embiid is responsible for defending both the ball and the roll man as Derrick White gets downhill off a pair of screens. To his credit, Embiid contains the ball fairly well, but Maxey gets lost in the play and White has too much room to find Queta again for the dunk.

Embiid had early success offensively, but it came with a growing workload on the defensive end.

Here, Vucevic screens and then re-screens for Tatum. Embiid is dragged all the way out to the logo before having to recover back to the corner. This isn’t sustainable, and it may have been the moment Philly started to rethink its coverages.

From that point forward, the Sixers became more deliberate about keeping Embiid out of switches, or removing him from the action entirely.

Later in the game, a string of possessions defined this cat-and-mouse dynamic.

On this first play, the floor is cleared for a Pritchard-Queta pick-and-roll. To avoid getting stuck on Pritchard, Embiid hedges the screen, extending it long enough for Grimes to recover before returning to Queta.

In most cases, this is a win for Philly. The advantage is gone, matchups are intact, and the clock is winding down. The process (pun intended) is good.

Unfortunately, so is Scheierman.

On the following possession, Queta comes up to screen for Tatum.

The Celtics once again look to involve Embiid, but this time he works to avoid it. Instead of following Queta, he removes himself from the play by calling for a switch with Grimes.

This keeps Embiid protected, but now he’s guarding Pritchard. To fix that, he calls for Maxey to switch, allowing him to stay closer to the rim. Tatum may have missed a brief window to hit Queta, but Embiid’s presence likely plays a role in that hesitation. The possession ends with Oubre drawing an offensive foul.

Boston doesn’t miss what’s happening here. They see the Sixers finding opportunities to give Embiid a breather and keep him out of the hunt.

The killer whale offense isn’t going to let that slide.

Boston begins the action the same way, with Pritchard screening for Queta, who then flows into a screen for Tatum. Embiid handles it similarly, having Grimes take Queta before swapping again with Edgecombe.

The biggest key to understand here is the movement path of Pritchard.

On the previous possession, he spaces to the wing, staying close enough for Philly to manipulate the matchups. This time, he cuts across the floor. That leaves Embiid on White, with no switch available. Tatum calls White into the action, and they’re surgical with a behind-the-back pass into a step-back three.

This wasn’t an accident. Boston is essentially a living, breathing flow chart. They see the game in stages of “if this, then that.” Embiid is avoiding the pick-and-roll? Take away his ability to do that.

To Philly’s credit, they weren’t passive. They identified the problem early on, and made adjustments to protect Embiid the best they could. For stretches, it worked or at least stalled the attack briefly. But Boston noticed the change, and found the next weakness to exploit.

Winning in the playoffs requires knowing your opponent, understanding their tendencies, and having a counter for their counters. Knowing yourself is part of the challenge, too. Boston’s self-awareness allows them to put players in positions to succeed, and those players know where they’re supposed to be at all times. They can coordinate their attacks with ease, and have the shared intuition to cycle through options until they find the right answer.

It’s going to be very difficult to win four games against this team.

Like Cooper Flagg, Kyrie Irving is a one-and-done Blue Devil and, like Flagg, a Dallas Maverick.

Irving sat out this season while recovering from an ACL injury, but he has sort of taken Flagg under his wing because he recognizes his massive talent and wants to help him reach his potential.

Irving told SI.com this: “Cooper is just an amazing player, and that’s not even just gassing it. At 19 years old, doing the things that he’s doing within our league is very special… He’s doing things that some of the greats, even before him, didn’t do. He’s chasing history.”

He also said this: “Listen, I understand. I’ve kind of been through this before. I don’t think there’s a lot of people around you right now that can tell you they’ve been through somewhat of a similar thing.”

Next year, for the first time, we’ll get to see them both on the court at the same time. After Flagg won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award on Monday, the Mavericks put out this video.

Narrated by Irving, the video features him talking about Flagg’s spectacular season and how he silenced doubters, which Flagg has done comprehensively.

And in a nice touch (or dig), Jamal Mashburn and Gilbert Arenas both went on the record early to express doubts about Flagg.

Those comments are included, and, in retrospect, they look like idiots.

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When the Celtics drilled an absurd 24 of their 53 3-point attempts during a blowout Game 4 win in Xfinity Mobile Arena Sunday night, I half expected the Twitter discourse to regain its steam. 

The Celtics are 3-point merchants! The Celtics don’t play fun basketball! 

Wrong, and wrong. 

On a night where Boston set a franchise playoff record for made threes in a game, breaking a previous record of 22 set three times (last done in Game 5 against the Knicks last year), the Celtics balanced beautiful ball movement (28 assists on 42 baskets) with pure isolation scoring, often having the Sixers defense 1-2 steps behind the action. 

After revisiting every possession that ended in a 3-point shot on Sunday night, I came away with the following observations: The Celtics exploited the 76ers’ help-heavy defense, and Payton Pritchard is a mad man. 

After two games of admirable perimeter and help defense, which did its part in making the Celtics work to touch the paint in both their Game 2 loss and clutch Game 3 win, Philadelphia’s help all of sudden hit a snag. The Celtics not only had success getting into the paint, but their patience once they reached the middle of the floor paid off.

With a less mobile big on the floor in Joel Embiid, the Sixers had to help collapse the paint, or pressure Boston’s stars as soon as the ball hit their hands, and the Celtics knew that help was coming, making a generous amount of kickout passes that either forced rotations, or led directly to an open shot. 

It started in the first quarter, even when the Celtics didn’t run out of the gate with a hot shooting faucet. 

This possession late in the first quarter is a good example of how they attacked defenders and moved the ball in space, even if the result wasn’t a made basket. Part of a possession featuring four missed 3-point attempts and three offensive rebounds, this part of the action sees Jayson Tatum establish the drive-and-kick game by getting into a spot deep in the paint, accompanied by two Sixers and another (Tyrese Maxey) going for a quick dig. He kicks to space in the corner, the extra pass is made to Nikola Vučević, and it’s a good look from distance. 

They punished this kind of help all game. The following clip is five different plays throughout the night, not all the same action, not all the same shooters, but notice how much attention the 76ers place on the ballhandler, how many Philadelphia defenders are in the restricted area to close around a paint touch, and how much space there is for kickouts to open shooters.  

Whether it’s a straight-line drive to the basket, a pick-and-pop, or a Jaylen Brown grind to the nail, the Celtics always looked ready for the help and were aware of where the ball should go once they committed to that help. 

This applies to mismatch hunting as well, like when Tatum got his much sought-after switch onto Embiid late in the third quarter. Paul George had no choice but to double the ball, giving up space for Vooch at the top of the arc, a shot that Sixers have lived with during this series. But as VJ Edgecombe cheats up a little from his spot across the floor to account for the expected swing to Vooch, Tatum surprises everyone, skipping the ball across the floor to a wide-open Pritchard. 

Great playmaking rewarded by a great shot.  

Back to Payton Pritchard. He simply put on a show Sunday night. Like, one of those performances, the ones not easily forgotten by a Celtics bench player on the big stage. 

Pritchard’s isolation creation could be found all over this win, and throughout his 32-point effort, it genuinely seemed like even the best defense didn’t really stand a chance when the shot left his hands. 

It started with his first three of the night with 4:30 left in the first quarter. The Celtics had been 0/4 from distance at that point in the game, and their first make came from their early offense. This is a basic double drag action, two screens set next to each other, and Philly takes the switch here, leaving Andre Drummond alone on Pritchard, who has enough space for a quick release three to beat Drummond’s contest. 

He then proceeded to finish 6/12 from three, hitting shots through a range of isolation handles, catch-and-shoot looks, and timeless buzzer-beaters against a helpless Sixers defense that sluggishly looked steps behind Boston throughout the night. 

On a historic shooting night, the Celtics gave themselves a chance to close the book on their first round series at home in five games, a luxury considering the state of the Eastern Conference, which will see two series guaranteed to extend to 6 games and another that is likely to do so between Detroit and Orlando.